DOWNLOAD: Ewan Pearson - Buzzin' Fly, August 22, 2008 (MP3)

XLR8R Issue 123 - Best of 2008

This past weekend, which I was really looking forward to, wound up being pretty lame dance-wise. Things started off okay at Webster Hall Friday night. D.I.M. began his set with some oldies but goodies from last year: Boys Noize - "Lava Lava", and the Chemical Brothers - "Salmon Dance" (Crookers Wow remix), then immediately launched into a three song burst of new stuff - MGMT - "Kids" (Soulwax remix), Tiga - "Mind Dimension", and Mr. Oizo - "Positif", which was entirely too short-lived as D.I.M.'s set quickly devolved into what could have unfortunately been a playlist titled "Best Electro of '07". Mostly good songs, just a year old. This can be fine, but nothing D.I.M. was doing was really grabbing my attention.

I started hoping Switch's set would blow me away and save the evening. Unfortunately that was not the case. Switch, apparently nowhere to be found, did not go on, and AC Slater who was scheduled to close out the night, filled in his place. At that point I was frustrated, cold (Webster wasn't too full at that point and was drafty), and having my ear talked off by some drunk a-hole about how great Switch was (after I informed him that it was D.I.M., NOT SWITCH), so I left.

Saturday I was so looking forward to seeing Green Velvet at Sullivan Room (after missing him the past 2 times he was here), but I got a cold and decided to stay in. Apparently he had the packed floor moving all night...

video of that and many upcoming events below....

Continue reading "the Thanksgiving week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Drop The Lime - Best of 2008, Ewan Pearson, FIXED, 19+ @ Studio B)"

by Showtrotta

DOWNLOAD: Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Midnight Juggernauts remix) (MP3)

Midnight Juggernauts @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - May 9, 2008 (CRED)

Last week in dance was pretty amazing. Wednesday night at Studio B the Shoes stole the show with their early live set - an energetic mix of lyrics and good dance beats. SebastiAn's set that followed was a bit on the weird side - it started off poppy, but quickly moved to the more electro/dance oriented. He didn't play anything super new (except his track "Motor" which is great for the floor), had a few good build-ups, but the set as a whole never really came together. After he was finished, Yuksek and Brodinski seemed to have something good going, but half of the half-full Studio B crowd left right after SebastiAn. You can only dance to Bucketheadz's "the Bomb" in the middle of an empty floor for so long before it gets awkward, so regrettably I never got to see where their set went either.

Friday night I enjoyed hearing all of the Midnight Juggernauts electronic undertones at Bowery Ballroom (which were previously drowned out when I saw them at the Terminal 5 with Justice). Despite having a much better time at this show and being able to hear more of the electronic elements of their music, the Midnight Juggernauts live show comes across much more like a rock (dare I say metal) performance than you would expect from hearing their album.

Luckily we decided to head to Le Royale afterwards where we were just in time to catch an hour of great, solidly dance-able tunes from D.I.M. He played many of his own tracks (such as "Is You" and his remix of My People by the Presets), a lot of recent releases, and quite a few remixes and original tracks by Boys Noize. Even though I found so much Boys Noize love a bit odd, it really made me think highly of D.I.M.'s set. I love Boys Noize, but have over done it with his music at this point. I've seen him deejay 5 times over the past year, and have played out Oi Oi Oi. Despite that, something about D.I.M.'s delivery of the tracks was able to make me excited to hear them again. Additionally D.I.M. has a great energy and personality that shines through while he's deejaying. He shouts along, gestures, and really gets the crowd into into it. It was a really refreshing dance experience.

The Black Ghosts @ Glasslands, Brooklyn, NYC - May 10, 2008 (CRED)

Saturday night, while I wouldn't call the steamy Glasslands Gallery refreshing, the Black Ghosts set was another breath of fresh air for dance music. Touché's UK-styled beats coupled with Simon Lord's fervent vocals reminded me of when I first started going out to see deejays. Everything sounded fresh and I would come home drenched in sweat with my feet aching, looking forward to doing it all again. That night at Glasslands I could tell I wasn't the only one who felt that way. The Ghosts had the crowd losing it on the dancefloor as they blazed through an hour and a half of great beats laced with live performances of their songs including "I Want Nothing, Any Way You Choose to Give It", "Some Way Through This", and others.

While those are some tough acts to follow, there is some great talent coming through New York this week:

Continue reading "Midnight Juggernauts, Cut Copy, Black Ghosts, The Shoes, D.I.M. & the Wednesday night in Dance..."